by David Jackson, USA TODAY

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

Snowden told a German magazine that other Western governments use information from the same NSA phone and Internet intelligence programs that some of their leaders are now protesting.

Or, as Snowden put it, NSA analysts are "in bed together with the Germans and most other Western states."

The magazine Der Spiegel said the comments came before Snowden -- now in hiding at the Moscow airport -- became internationally known.

U.S. intelligence agencies have long discussed their close cooperation with allied governments when it comes to battling the threat of terrorism.

Obama aides have also criticized Snowden's leaks of NSA techniques, saying it has hurt national security.

"There has been damage," Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union. "I don't think we actually have been able to determine the depth of that damage."

The new leaks have also somewhat undermined relations with other nations, Dempsey said.

"We'll work our way back," Dempsey said. "But it has set us back temporarily."

"In remarks published in German, Snowden said an NSA department known as the Foreign Affairs Directorate coordinated work with foreign secret services.

"The partnerships are organized so that authorities in other countries can 'insulate their political leaders from the backlash' if it becomes public 'how grievously they're violating global privacy,' he said.

"The interview was conducted by U.S. cryptography expert Jacob Appelbaum and documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras using 'encrypted e-mails shortly before Snowden became known globally for his whistleblowing', Spiegel said."